Fontenot gives Soriano a run for his money

Monday, Alfonso Soriano won National League Player of the Week honors, for his work against Texas and the White Sox. He earned a quality Swiss watch for his efforts.

It appears teammate Mike Fontenot wants to make it back-to-back Cubs who will sport fancy timepieces.

The Cubs infielder, who had five hits Monday and an RBI double Tuesday, extended his hitting streak to 10 games after he went 3-for-4 in Wednesday's 6-4 victory over Colorado. In the three-game series against the Rockies Fontenot batted .692 (9-for-13) to lift his season average to .408. During that three-game span he had four doubles, a homer, four RBI and five runs.

“Player of the Week? He should be Player of the Month,” pitcher Scott Eyre said. “He’s not only hitting, but he's catching everything hit to him.”

Fontenot’s first hit Wednesday might be considered a fluke. Colorado second baseman Kaz Matsui lost Fontenot’s popup in the sun, the ball falling for a single.

The second hit was no fluke, as Fontenot tagged Jason Hirsh’s to the right-field seats an estimated 415 feet for a solo home run. Fontenot added a double to left in the seventh.

“I didn’t know short men could hit the ball like that,” Zambrano said. “He hits the ball like a man.”

“He told me that,” Fontenot said. “I just do my thing. Sometimes he raises his hands high to high-five me so I have to jump and I kind of like it. I slap him with my forearm.”

Petrick hears it

Even before he played in his first major league game, pitcher Billy Petrick was tagged with an error. And he heard about it from his pals.

Petrick, who was promoted Tuesday from Double-A Tennessee, was in charge of guarding the pitchers and the catchers in the bullpen. Late in the game, he failed to come up with a grounder down the line in left. Although the ball didn’t hit anyone, the miscue was shown on some highlights.

“I caught a lot of grief for that,” Petrick, the former Morris High School standout, said. “I had some friends call me and said, ‘You weren’t even in the game and made an error.’ ”

Petrick made his big-league debut Wednesday. He threw a perfect seventh inning, striking out two, and earned a standing ovation. In the eighth, he was touched for a two-run homer by Garrett Atkins. Petrick was removed with two outs in the inning and earned another standing “O”.

“I’ve never gotten an ovation like that after giving up a home run,” he said. “That’s a first.”

Wood worked?

Despite reports that Kerry Wood’s first throwing session off a mound was delayed Tuesday because he went home after his house was flooded, manager Lou Piniella said Wood actually threw off the hill at 1 p.m. at Wrigley Field.

On Wednesday, Wood initially said he didn’t throw Tuesday, then said he did. He wouldn’t say if it was off the mound.

“I threw. Let’s leave it at that,” Wood said.

Wood threw off flat ground Wednesday.

Prinz wins

Former Sox pitcher Bret Prinz, who recently signed a deal with Triple-A Iowa, threw two shutout innings to earn the victory Tuesday as Iowa beat Albuquerque 14-18.

Also in that game, shortstop Ronny Cedeno, who opened the season with the Cubs, went 5-for-6 with two doubles. Additionally, Iowa completed the fourth triple play in franchise history.
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